Bai Qingzhi (Seeking Follow-up Reads 3K)

"You... don't block my path!"

Cyan scales emerged on Bai Qingzhi's arm, and in an instant, she whipped it toward Zhou Yun's face, the strike cracking the air.

Bang!

Force erupted from Zhou Yun's palms; he caught the whip-strike with his Black Ape Movement Technique and immediately lunged forward, closing the distance.

His palms clamped onto Bai Qingzhi's arm, traveling up to seize her entire shoulder and locking onto her scapula.

But her arm suddenly turned as soft and slippery as a snake's body, sliding right out of Zhou Yun's grip.

Hmm? Is this a trait of the Snake Tribe demons...

Zhou Yun raised an eyebrow, a strategy forming in his mind.

"You still want to capture me? Human martial artist!"

Bai Qingzhi let out a cold snort, cast a disdainful glance at Zhou Yun, and moved to bolt toward the deep mountains.

Suddenly, the back of her neck was hoisted up, and her feet left the ground.

She was held in Zhou Yun's hand like a small chick.

"What? Let me go!"

Bai Qingzhi's cyan pupils dilated instantly. She thrashed about in mid-air, her hands and feet flailing wildly.

Her fair face turned even paler with anxiety; the instinctive fear and suppression made her entire body go limp.

"As expected, to strike a snake, one must strike its seven-inch mark."

A smirk tugged at the corner of Zhou Yun's mouth. With his left hand, he pulled out a thick hemp rope, bound the snake-girl's body tightly, and stuffed a thick piece of burlap into her mouth.

Although the sight was quite alluring, Zhou Yun had no time to linger. He casually tossed the snake-girl into a pre-prepared sack.

Outside the city, the night was dark and the wind was high. At such a late hour, no one would be passing by, so naturally, no one saw what Zhou Yun had done.

He found a section of the city wall left unguarded, used it to gain leverage, and channeled his force into his hands and feet.

With a few leaps, he reached the top of the wall. After scanning his surroundings to ensure no one was there, he jumped down the other side.

"With my current control over the external release of force, scaling a ten-meter wall is no longer a problem."

Carrying the constantly struggling sack on his back, Zhou Yun muttered to himself.

The quality of the sack was excellent, and with his constant application of Dark Force to the exterior, it wouldn't tear.

After all, this was a Snake Tribe demon at the Great Success stage of Bright Force who had caused quite a stir at the Sea Whale Gang's auction; many factions were likely searching for her right now.

Not to mention, this snake-girl seemed to be a Saintess of the Snake-Person Race...

"Still, I'm the one who caught her."

Zhou Yun felt incredibly excited, as if he had stumbled upon gold while walking out the door.

If he could later ask Chen Jingping for a way to thoroughly tame this snake-girl, it would be equivalent to gaining a Great Success Bright Force expert out of thin air, with a high probability of her breaking through to Dark Force.

Never mind the distant Transformation Force; even Dark Force was worth more than gold.

Zhou Yun walked along a small path, constantly checking his surroundings for pursuers, terrified of running into disciples sent out by the Sea Whale Gang.

"Are there really so few factions searching for the snake-girl's whereabouts?"

Zhou Yun made a special detour around the city and discovered that most of those who had attended the banquet had returned to their own estates, bracing for a potential attack by the Snake-Person Race.

Instead, the only ones tracking the missing snake-girl were a few scattered minor factions hoping to pick up scraps; the vast majority believed she had already fled back to the Black Profound Mountain Range.

One had to realize that there were nearly ten Bright Force snake demons sent to infiltrate Black Stone County to rescue this girl, and two or three at the Dark Force level.

Furthermore, any that could take human form and evade the guards' screening must possess a high bloodline concentration—they might even be seeds of the Snake-Person Race.

They had likely come prepared to trade their lives to get the Saintess back to Luoqiu Slope; they probably never imagined Zhou Yun would be the one to snatch the prize.

"No time to lose. I'll take this opportunity to return to the inner courtyard."

Zhou Yun made up his mind. After bypassing a few groups of people, he headed toward the inner courtyard.

About half an hour later, Zhou Yun climbed over the wall of the inner courtyard with the sack on his back, finally reached his own residence, and slammed the door shut.

Perhaps due to his Great Success Black Ape Movement Technique, no one had discovered Zhou Yun along the way.

He just wondered if Chen Jingping and Liang Chengshi would go looking for him once they realized he was missing.

"I'll greet them tomorrow. For now, I need to take a look at my spoils..."

Zhou Yun placed the White Jade Ginseng King and the Dragon-Elephant Body Tempering Technique on the table, then ripped open the sack, revealing only a snake-girl kicking wildly.

If not for the cyan scales faintly appearing on her face and arms in her rage, one wouldn't be able to tell she was a member of the Snake-Person Race at all—she looked exactly like a human woman.

"I'm going to take the gag out. Don't scream... nod if you understand."

Zhou Yun had never dealt with the Snake-Person Race before and could only use the simplest method.

The snake-girl, who had been struggling violently, stopped moving upon hearing Zhou Yun's words and gave a silent nod.

Zhou Yun knew she might be feigning compliance, but he couldn't avoid communication forever, so he remained vigilant as he removed the gag.

"Help me!!!"

Bai Qingzhi screamed at the top of her lungs, knowing full well that falling into the hands of a human martial artist was a fate worse than death.

She might as well gamble on the chance that a clansman was nearby to rescue her.

"I knew you'd try that..."

Zhou Yun was quick; before the snake-girl could even finish three words, he shoved the sandalwood box containing the White Jade Ginseng King into her mouth.

"Mmph... mmph..."

With her mouth gagged, Bai Qingzhi could only vent through her hateful gaze, her green pupils locked onto Zhou Yun as if she would curse him to hell.

"Alright, I'll loosen your gag one more time. If you try any more tricks..."

Zhou Yun offered a cold smile. "Neither your clansmen nor any other human martial artists know you've been snatched by me. No one here cares whether you live or die..."

As he spoke, he rubbed his hands together. "Since you've taken human form, you should know just how cruel our human punishments can be..."

Gurgle...

Suddenly, a strange sound echoed through the air.

Both fell silent, and Bai Qingzhi's face turned even paler.

"Hungry? That makes sense. You've probably been held by the Sea Whale Gang for a long time."

Zhou Yun had intended to say more to intimidate her, but he realized there were more effective methods than mere words.

He turned and exited the room, heading toward the inner courtyard kitchen.

"He left?"

Seeing this, Bai Qingzhi's green pupils lit up.

She desperately shimmied her body, trying to inch closer to the door, and managed to make some progress.

"There's hope!"

Her pupils grew brighter as she exerted herself, moving until she was only a few steps away from the door.

Creak.

The door opened.

Zhou Yun returned carrying a large basin of tender, stewed Python Ox meat. This was a new dietary supplement he had found in the second-story loft, capable of significantly increasing a martial artist's absorption of blood energy.

The markings on this ox resembled a python, hence the name Python Ox; they lived in the outer reaches of the Black Profound Mountain Range and were extremely difficult for ordinary martial artists to find.

"Thinking of running? You're tied up from head to toe—if you get out, won't you just be snatched up by other martial artists?"

Zhou Yun found it amusing. The snake-girl was bound like a zongzi; if she really made it out of the courtyard, she would be spotted by his fellow disciples in the inner courtyard immediately.

A snake-girl without the power to resist was essentially a free prize; no one would pass up such an opportunity.

Hearing this, the light in Bai Qingzhi's pupils dimmed, and her body stopped struggling.

"I'll loosen your gag again. If you start screaming and shouting... I'll stuff you back into the sack and lock you in the cabinet."

Zhou Yun told the snake-girl, shaking the basin of meat in his hand. "As long as you're obedient, all this meat is yours... You haven't had a full meal since you were captured, have you?"

Bai Qingzhi caught a whiff of an incredibly fragrant aroma, a scent worlds apart from the medicinal herbs and raw meat she had been fed at Luoqiu Slope.

She couldn't help but swallow her saliva. Thinking that she needed to fill her stomach before she could even consider escaping, she gave a slow nod.

"Good, that's how you get meat..."

Zhou Yun removed the sandalwood box from her mouth again, suddenly feeling like he was training a dog, and quickly dismissed the thought.

This was a noble Saintess of the Snake-Person Race, an expert at the peak of Bright Force who could break through to Dark Force at any moment—how could she be compared to a dog?

This time, Bai Qingzhi didn't scream, her eyes fixed on the basin of meat in Zhou Yun's hands.

"I want to eat."

Bai Qingzhi gritted her teeth.

"Fine."

Zhou Yun didn't waste words; he used his chopsticks to pick up a large piece of beef and shoved it into her mouth.

The moment Bai Qingzhi tasted the tender meat, her green pupils lit up instantly, and she swallowed it after only a few chews.

"I want more."

She said, her face cold.

"If you want more, you have to answer my questions."

Zhou Yun set the basin of beef aside, and the aroma of the meat filled the room.

There were even hints of spices in the air, making his own mouth water.

Zhou Yun picked up his chopsticks and took a bite himself; since the snake-girl had already eaten from it without issue, there shouldn't be any poison.

Besides, he was just a rough martial artist; he had no intention of being squeamish about the snake-girl.

"!"

Seeing Zhou Yun eat the meat that belonged to her, Bai Qingzhi immediately gritted her teeth and said, "Ask your questions, quickly!"

"Hmm? Oh..."

Zhou Yun instinctively set down his chopsticks and asked, "What is your name?"

"Bai Qingzhi."

"Where are you from?"

"Luoqiu Slope, in the Black Profound Mountain Range."

"What is your current strength?"

"A first-rank late-stage demonic beast... in your human terms, that is the Great Completion of Bright Force, and I will break through to Dark Force in less than a month."

Through their back-and-forth, Zhou Yun quickly grasped the basic information about this snake-woman.

So that is how it is. Luoqiu Slope is actually deep within the Black Profound Mountain Range, and it is the lair of the Green Snake Clan...

Zhou Yun digested this information.

He also learned that this snake-woman named Bai Qingzhi had only been cultivating for a little over forty years; by human standards, that lifespan would be halved, making her roughly twenty years old.

Furthermore, Bai Qingzhi was the ninth child of the Green Snake Ancestor of Luoqiu Slope, and her bloodline purity was exceptionally high.

She was not at all limited to the Transformation Force ceiling claimed by the Sea Whale Gang, but was an existence capable of reaching realms far beyond it.

I have truly struck gold here...

Zhou Yun's heart stirred; he had initially thought he had merely picked up a stray bargain.

Beyond Transformation Force? That was a level he could not reach for some time, as he still required years of tempering.

Yet Bai Qingzhi only needed to eat and sleep every day, and safely complete her molting during the full moon, to reach that very realm.